You may remember her for her hilarious high jinks in 1980s and 1990s sitcoms, or maybe her screeching rendition of the national anthem 22 years ago at a San Diego Padres game that still draws thousands of hits a year on YouTube. But for those of you not paying hyper-close attention to the third party action in this year's presidential race, Roseanne Barr has been making a spirited run for the Green Party nomination for president.

Trouble is, California was her Waterloo. On Tuesday, Barr finished second in the Green Party primary to Jill Stein, a Harvard-trained physician who once ran against Mitt Romney for governor of Massachusetts, by a margin of 49-40 percent. The win gave Stein enough delegates to clinch the Green Party nomination at its convention in Baltimore in July. But Barr, unbowed, has vowed to soldier on.

She announced via Twitter on Thursday that she will now run as an independent in a new party called the "Green Tea Party." Her main issues: the legalization of marijuana, more support for Palestinians, federal law to forgive all student loan debt and shutting down all U.S. military bases in foreign countries. "I will put the Electoral College and its racist foundation into the mainstream dialogue of this election cycle," she tweeted.

Good luck! And when it comes to picking a running mate, political insiders say Alf, the Fresh Prince of Bel Aire and Mr. T have the inside track.

Measure A passes, and this time voters got to vote

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Santa Clara County Measure A on Tuesday's ballot might have seemed a little esoteric to most voters -- it essentially asked their permission to transfer the power over the county jails to the sheriff to reduce costs -- but at least they got to vote on it. That's thanks largely to San Jose attorney James McManis, who sued the board of supervisors almost two years ago to force them to follow the county charter and have the voters decide the issue.

In fact, it was voters who in 1988 took control of the jails away from then-Sheriff Robert Winter. That ballot measure also amended the county charter in order to create an entirely separate corrections department to save money.

In June 2010, the board decided to reverse the voters' decision on its own, once again saying it would save money. After all, it cost the county about $150,000 to put Measure A on the ballot.

Only Supervisor Liz Kniss was opposed, telling her colleagues they had to follow the charter and seek a public vote.

But no one heeded Kniss's advice at the time, not even county counsel Miguel Marquez, who last month was named as the Sixth District Court of Appeal's first Latino associate justice. He had advised the board that its move would withstand a legal challenge because the Department of Correction would continue to run the jails "in conjunction" and "in cooperation" with the sheriff.

Two months later, McManis sued the board for the same reason Kniss cited, as well as on behalf of a correctional sergeant whose pay was cut after the transfer.

"I'm very pleased," said McManis after voters on Tuesday passed the measure with 77.68 percent in favor. "I think democracy in action is always good. The system worked, and the board did what they should have done a long time ago. If we contributed to that wise decision, good for us."

County, San Jose exchange financial complaints

Speaking of the county and lawsuits: In an angry news release dotted with multiple exclamation points, county leaders Friday accused San Jose officials of lying about the city's ability to pay its former redevelopment agency's debt.

The county's gripe comes after the city last week told financial markets it would default on its former redevelopment agency bond payments if the county's auditor-controller keeps withholding $19.3 million from the city for its own budget.

"These assertions are simply untrue!" exclaimed County Executive Jeff Smith in the news release. "The city will NOT default upon their redevelopment bonds unless they make an intentional effort to do so. Nothing that the Auditor-Controller has done, or will do, will cause the city to default!"

The state's termination of local redevelopment agencies has forced San Jose and Santa Clara County to do something they've never done well: work cooperatively.

Each city has to hand over financial information to the county Auditor-Controller in order to assess its ability to pay redevelopment debt based on property tax receipts, which counties collect and distribute.

But last week the county refused to pay San Jose its cut of property tax because the city told the county Auditor-Controller it could not pay its debts.

San Jose officials said they couldn't pay the debt because the county was keeping $19.3 million from the city's tax pot for itself, citing earlier city promises that the county could keep more tax money that otherwise would go to redevelopment. The city said the county must pay the redevelopment debt first and keep what's left over.

But Smith said the city is taking a "cry wolf" tactic.

"The truth is that there will NOT be a default upon San Jose RDA bonded debt!" Smith said. "Period!"

City Attorney Rick Doyle insisted Friday said the city doesn't have the money, and if no agreement can be reached, the San Jose may sue the county for trying to leapfrog over other debtors.

Inmate's hunger strike raises political concern

It's the rare Santa Clara County inmate who merits a visit from a local politician. But headline-grabbing San Jose "freedom fighter" Ly Tong has been graced with the presence of two bigshots since his May 24 jailing for dousing a visiting Vietnamese singer with either pepper spray or a mixture of perfume and fish sauce to protest the country's communist government.

County Supervisor Dave Cortese was the latest to make the trek over to the Main Jail. San Jose City Councilman Kansen Chu went shortly after Tong was convicted.

What drew them was concern that Tong has been hunger-striking again to protest his incarceration -- and has apparently also stopped taking liquids. His supporters say the already thin 63-year-old has lost more than 27 pounds.

A jail spokesman confirmed that Tong is in the medical unit and being closely monitored. Jail authorities can legally force-feed him for about 16 days under a temporary conservatorship.

Tong went on a monthlong hunger strike in 2008 to get a strip of Vietnamese shops on Story Road named Little Saigon. He told Cortese he would drink some liquid after the supervisor pledged his support.

Internal Affairs is an offbeat look at state and local politics. This week's items were written by Paul Rogers, Tracy Seipel and Tracey Kaplan. Send tips to internalaffairs@mercurynews.com, or call 408-975-9346.